Erin Durkin

The City Council voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to approve a sweeping rezoning plan that will reshape the face of 125th Street. The rezoning, approved by a vote of 47-2, is a modified version of a plan originally proposed by the Department of City Planning.

I’ve spent more time worrying about what to write in this column than the 50-plus pages of academic writing I have to do in the next two weeks.

After a year of controversy over its labor practices, local eatery Saigon Grill has been ordered to rehire the delivery employees it fired after they threatened a lawsuit over illegally low wages.

The same man is suspected of committing at least six late-night robberies of young women between 115th and 125th streets over the past two months, police said Friday.

Straight out of high school, Oscar Escano, GS, enlisted in the military, joining an Army Ranger unit that deployed to Afghanistan in December 2001.

Following a leak of the contents of this year's Literature Humanities final exam, students in the course will have to choose between retaking the test and discounting the final from their grade, administrators announced Tuesday.

Police have identified and released a photograph of a suspect in the rape of a Journalism School student last weekend.

A student in the Journalism School was severely assaulted in her Hamilton Heights apartment Friday night.

Facing strong opposition from parents, the New York City Department of Education has decided not to house Columbia Secondary School for Math, Science, and Engineering at P.S. 36, an early childhood school on Morningside Drive.

The Central Park Zoo opened its gates on Wednesday to allow couples to spend Valentine's Day eve watching animal mating rituals, the New York Post reported.

The United Missionary Baptist Association announced its support for Columbia's proposed Manhattanville expansion on Thursday.

ommunity Board 9 re-elected six of its seven officers at its December general board meeting, failing, after four votes, to reach a majority for the office of treasurer.

Incumbent treasurer Barbara Marshall and challenger Michael Palma each received 15 votes in the initial round of balloting.

Community Board 9 re-elected six of its seven officers Thursday night, failing after four votes to reach a majority for the office of treasurer, which will be filled in January.

Citing balloting irregularities, Transport Workers Union Local 241 President Kelvin McAllister and his ticket have filed to challenge the results of the recent union elections in which McAllister was defeated for re-election.

Parents clashed with representatives of the Department of Education at a hearing Wednesday night over the department's plan to locate the Columbia Secondary School at P.S. 36.

Parents confronted Department of Education officials Tuesday night regarding their plan to temporarily locate a Columbia-sponsored secondary school at P.S. 36, an early childhood school on Morningside Drive.

The New York City Department of Education postponed a meeting Tuesday night for parents concerned about a decision to locate the Columbia Secondary School for Math, Science and Engineering at P.S. 36.

Columbia Business School Dean Glenn Hubbard sent an e-mail to the student body on Friday, Nov. 3 confirming that the school would likely move to Columbia's proposed campus in Manhattanville.

University officials have said since the beginning of the year that the Business School was a likely candidate to relocate to Manhattanville, but Hubbard's memo is the firmest commitment to the move to date.

The West Harlem Business Group has sued a state agency for refusing to disclose information about the possible use of eminent domain for Columbia's proposed Manhattanville expansion, the group announced Friday.

Parents reacted with anger on Wednesday to the news that the Columbia Secondary School would be temporarily housed at P.S. 36.

Nuri, 27, was born in Halabja in northern Iraq, and got his start in journalism working as a translator for western reporters in the late 1990s. With the American invasion in 2003, he went to Baghdad as a correspondent and worked for BBC's The World and Global News Radio.

The local development corporation that is slated to work out a community benefits agreement with Columbia on behalf of the Manhattanville community has voted not to make the renunciation of eminent domain a prerequisite for negotiations.

The public magnet school slated to open next fall in Columbia's proposed Manhattanville expansion zone will be headed by Jose Gabriel Maldonado-Rivera, TC '98, University President Lee Bollinger and New York City Department of Education Chancellor Joel Klein announced Thursday.

New York state has initiated a study that could result in a blight finding for the area of Manhattanville where Columbia is planning to expand, officials confirmed Wednesday. A blight finding would allow the state to use the power of eminent domain to forcibly buy property in the area from owners who have refused to sell.

More than 200 people met at a community forum Saturday to acquaint themselves with the group that will determine what benefits that neighborhood gets out of Columbia's proposed Manhattanville expansion.

At Thursday night's meeting of the Coalition to Preserve Community, audience members listened to cautionary tales of what could happen if Columbia's Manhattanville expansion proceeds as planned-and they discussed what they could do to stop it.

As consultants work around the clock to prepare a document detailing the environmental impact of Columbia's proposed Manhattanville expansion, some members of Community Board 9 are concerned that the ground rules for the study will prevent it from reflecting the true effects of the project.

According to longtime tenant activist Nellie Bailey, gentrification is rapidly turning Harlem into a place that is hostile to the black poor and working class.

While developments on the Manhattanville expansion stalled last spring, this summer brought the faint beginnings of community-benefits agreement negotiations and modifications to Columbia's proposed plans.

The University plans to expand in the area stretching from 125th to 133rd streets between Broadway and 12th Avenue and wants to own all the property in that area before construction begins.

Columbia has made some revisions to its plans for a new campus in Manhattanville in response to community concerns over the campus's accessibility.

Representatives of the Manhattanville community have formed a local development corporation which will negotiate toward a community-benefits agreement with Columbia
starting this summer.

More than ever before, Columbia administrators seemed to decide this year that the time had come to promote the University's Manhattanville expansion plans. From making representatives available for marathon meetings, to promising to build a magnet high school, to offering to negotiate a community benefits agreement, 2005-2006 saw the University seeking to convince community members-or at least the elected officials who have an official say in the plan's success-that the expansion will do them more good than harm.

When Columbia announced its plans for a large-scale expansion into Manhattanville in 2004, what exactly it intended to do with the proposed 17-acre site was largely unclear. While planning is still in the initial phases-and its success less than certain, as Columbia still faces significant community opposition and a litany of city approvals-the two years since the official announcement have brought more and more details about the University's plans for the space.

"We've looked elsewhere," Robert Kasdin, Columbia University's senior executive vice president, said at a meeting in October, elaborating on options for University expansion. "We want to be in New York City, and we want to be in Manhattanville." So, where is elsewhere? According to Kasdin, property in an area west of Lincoln Center, commonly known as Trump City, was once eyed for University expansion.